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When It Rains...
WARNING: "When It Rains..." DS9 spoilers, it can also pour disgruntled people who have been accidentally spoiled. Don't be one of them. In brief: A bit more padded than some other recent offerings -- it's definitely good in some plotlines, but a letdown after its predecessor. Brief summary: Gowron comes to the station with surprising plans for Martok, Dukat's plans take an unexpected turn, Kira begins training Damar's resistance movement, and Bashir makes a disturbing discovery. "When It Rains..." was a bit frustrating, but I suspect that's mostly in comparison to the last four weeks, which have been fairly strong material overall. Although there are elements to "When It Rains..." which are superb (one storyline in particular), other pieces feel somewhat padded out to keep things going. One story which I'm definitely getting tired of is the continuing Ezri Romance Follies. For three weeks, we had the "are she and Worf an item or not?" question, which did in the end actually go somewhere, but felt like it took twice as many scenes as necessary in order to get there. Now that that issue has been resolved, we instead find Ezri playing hard-to-get with Bashir, despite the fact that we've been 'told' that she's certain he's the man for her. "When It Rains..." marks the fifth episode in a row where Ezri's romantic interests have played a significant role (either foreground or background), and they weren't exactly lacking for exposure in the early part of this season. Perhaps I'm an unromantic clod, but it seems to me that if the only role Ezri is going to play is that of conflicted love interest, she's not a particularly well-founded character. Regardless, the whole "who will Ezri end up with?" issue is stretching on way too long, and at this point I think it's starting to actively get in the way. Move along, please. Fortunately, the episode does move along on a number of different fronts. The most prominent story in terms of screen time is probably Kira's new mission: Sisko, in light of Damar's new Cardassian resistance, is trying to help him learn resistance tactics by sending along a consultant who's an expert in such tactics, namely our own Kira Nerys. The only real issue I have with this story is that it's being laid on a bit too thickly. Having the Cardassians espouse Bajoran-style ideals is definitely ironic enough; having Kira then move over and have to work with Damar may be stretching the point. I have a particular issue with Sisko's logic underlying his order: one, Damar has had some experience with resistance tactics while serving on board Dukat's Bird of Prey; and two, Kira's resistance expertise is limited to tactics on a single planet, which is most emphatically not the situation Damar faces. I understand the appeal of putting the two of them together; I think it's just a bit of a reach. That said, then, I thought this part of the story was executed fairly well. Damar's inner renaissance is continuing apace, even to the point where he's barely batting an eye at Kira's presence; that's something we certainly couldn't have said during the Dominion occupation of the station. On the other hand, most of the other Cardassians with him, particularly Gul Rosot, are taking every opportunity to differentiate themselves from Bajorans and Bajoran ideas, even trying to drive wedges between onetime resistance fighter Kira and onetime collaborator Odo. They don't succeed, of course, but they certainly manage to annoy everyone quite substantially. A Cardassian soldier's snide question about why Odo didn't resign in protest of Cardassian policies was particularly pointed, and well done. Speaking of Odo, he's suddenly coming back into the story with a vengeance, as we find that the wasting disease which has affected the Founders all season has now infected him as well. On one level, this has given Odo a substantial sense of his own mortality; we're only beginning to see what this will do to him physically or psychologically (or whether a cure will be found, though I suspect it will), but so far it's promising. Far more promising, however, is what Bashir is finding out about the disease during his research. When Bashir tries to obtain a copy of Odo's medical records from his trip to Earth, he is rebuffed at every turn, with one Commander Hilliard all but accusing him of treason for wanting to find a cure to this disease. After a quick off-screen plea to Sisko which expedites matters, Bashir and O'Brien get a copy of the report ... only to have Bashir discover (through a genetically enhanced memory and a small stroke of luck) that the report's a fake, incorporating Dr. Mora Pol's research on Odo from a decade ago rather than the more current file. When further investigation lets them discover that Odo was apparently infected on the exact day he was at Starfleet Medical, an awful truth sinks in: the virus was engineered by the Federation, likely Section 31, and Odo has been used as a carrier for three years. Starfleet Medical's reticence to help Bashir is now obvious, but he and O'Brien realize that they need to obtain a cure from Section 31 before that organization realizes they've been found out. Apart from some minor logistical problems which I'll mention later, this is juicy stuff. Among other things, it finally gives Bashir and O'Brien some non-laughable material for this final arc, which is a blessing in itself. More importantly, though, bringing Section 31 back into the fold means we may well get a bit of the "cleansing of the Federation" I was wondering about half a dozen or so episodes back; certainly, if Section 31 is figuring this heavily into the war against the Founders, they need to be dealt with substantially before the war can be said to be truly over. In many ways, the story here was mostly setup -- but it was good, promising setup, so we'll see. Possibly the most delicious part of "When It Rains...," however, came from Winn and Dukat, as is becoming somewhat common. Early on, things seem status quo: Winn is still allied with Dukat to help the Pagh Wraiths, but she deeply dislikes what she's becoming and particularly dislikes discovering who her new ally is. Dukat, on the other hand, is becoming more charmingly arrogant by the second: when Winn tells him to remember his place, he quickly responds that "I thought my place was in your bed." Not the wisest thing he could have said, perhaps, but absolutely pure Dukat, and marvelous stuff. It becomes clear, however, that Dukat is chafing at the slow pace of his plan, and he wants to "help" Winn along with her research. Thus, one night, he breaks into Winn's office with the key to the Kosst Amojan in his hand. Despite Winn's earlier admonitions that the book was for her eyes only, he breaks the seal and begins musing over the book, wondering "what dark secrets" Winn has kept from him. The script begins to glow ... ... and Dukat suddenly finds himself blinded and screaming in agony. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy, I say. :-) Seriously, while having Dukat's blind arrogance turn into not-so-arrogant blindness is fun enough, Winn's opportunity for some pointed vengeance is better still. She promptly decides that he needs to learn a little humility, and to that end she exiles him to the streets, where "a blind beggar" can try to elicit sympathy from the Bajoran people. Marvelous, marvelous stuff, and apart from the obvious conclusion that Dukat's going to be royally ticked off at Winn I haven't a clue as to where it's going. Lastly, and perhaps most crucially for "Tacking With the Wind" next week, we have some movement on the Klingon front. At the outset, the Klingons find themselves in a relatively nice position: a chance fix to one ship's engines has revealed a way for the Klingon ships to outwit the Breen energy-draining weapons, so the Klingons are the only real force able to combat the Dominion at the moment. The chance for glory is evident, and in addition Gowron himself is on the way to DS9 to induct Martok into "the Order of Kahless." One quick Klingon ritual later, bam -- Martok's one of the greatest heroes of the Empire. Unfortunately, he's out of a job at the same time. Gowron has decided that Martok has borne the burden of this war long enough, so he releases Martok from his oversight role, instead taking direct command of the Klingon forces himself. As Gowron isn't half the tactical genius that Martok is, Worf suspects this to be nothing more than political maneuvering, and is concerned about Gowron's ability to lead, particularly after Gowron decides to take the Klingon fleet on the offensive despite being outnumbered 20-1. I suppose this kind of upheaval is very much in keeping with the "when it rains, it pours" sentiment of the title -- after all, both the Federation and the Dominion are dealing with internal strife just now -- but so far I'm not finding it all that impressive. First, we've seen so many Klingon rituals that they're getting a bit tiresome. Second, and more importantly, this feels so far as though it's here only because of a desire to bring yet another principality into upheaval. It doesn't seem particularly out of character for anyone, at least, but it doesn't seem much of anything else, either. I'll wait and see. Other thoughts: -- My logic concern about Bashir's detective work: how the hell can he figure out exactly when Odo was infected? Figuring out the replication rate of the virus shouldn't be that bad, but even assuming it's constant, Bashir has no idea of the virus's origin unless he assumes that precisely one complete virus was used, and no more. That strikes me as silly. A general date would have worked better. -- Similarly, Miles' logic that "if Section 31 is behind the virus, they must have a cure" is a little specious. The U.S. developed the first nuclear bomb; have we developed a "cure" for that, or even a workable defense? Hoping they have a cure is certainly a good idea, but I wouldn't rely on it. -- A rare mispronunciation from Colm Meaney: he pronounces "tritium" as "TRY-tee-um" in the teaser. Tsk, tsk. -- If Odo's been infected all this time, that means that Laas (from "Chimera") is as well. Let's hope he doesn't find his people, then... -- Although the Bashir/Ezri work did nothing for me, Bashir's "oh my God" when seeing Odo's test results was very nicely delivered. -- Why exactly does Bashir need the Starfleet Medical records? If he wants a study of healthy Odo for comparison, why not use something from the first few seasons of the series? He certainly studied Odo enough. -- Kira's point about the resistance being willing to kill Cardassians was well taken. -- "I need to borrow a cup of goo"? Please, Julian, let's be a little less tacky. Surely you can find some suitably medical terminology -- at the very least, "a cup of you" would have been better. That should cover it. Essentially, "When It Rains..." is a bit of a lull; while there's little about it which seems bad, a lot of it feels more like marking time than anything else. The Section 31 material and the Winn/Dukat material are extremely promising, and much of the rest might turn out well -- but for now, this one felt more "okay" than wonderful. Wrapping up: Writing: Beautiful Winn/Dukat work and some nice material bringing Section 31 to the fore; the Bashir/Ezri stuff is getting very old very fast, and the rest is too murky to tell. Directing: Not quite as spiffy as Vejar's work last week, but certainly fine, particularly on the better-written material. Acting: No complaints ... no surprise there. OVERALL: 6.5. Some promising stuff, but thin. We'll see how it ages. NEXT WEEK: Worf's divided loyalties. Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.) tly...@alumni.caltech.edu <*> "Remember your place, Dukat." "I thought my place was in your bed." -- Winn and Dukat Category:DS9